


Impromptu Family Reunion

by Emmyb102



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Not Beta Read, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 01:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmyb102/pseuds/Emmyb102
Summary: Jay hadn't seen his family in over three years, having left and never looked back. He was run out when his father figure went missing, his adopted siblings wanted nothing to do with him. More than three years later, and Jay was back in town, doing everything in his power to avoid where his family might be.





	Impromptu Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [see how you broke me (see how you lost me)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124100) by [redbirb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redbirb/pseuds/redbirb). 



> This work first came to me while reading redbirb's see how you broke me (see how you lost me) but has spiraled since then. I just needed somewhere to put this, but be my guest and look it over, leave a comment or a kudos, if you see an error, please tell me! Thank you! Will be adding and editing continuously.

Jay hadn't seen his family in over three years, having left and never looked back. He was run out when his father figure went missing, his adopted siblings wanted nothing to do with him. The youngest, and only one blood related to their father, was particularly vocal about his hatred for Jay. Telling him time and time again that he was pathetic and a faker, worse than his whore of a mother. The others ignored his plans and hope for finding their missing parent, waving Jay off with more important things, like keeping the family business running, and keeping their other activities underground and unnoticed. Four months later, after successfully finding and rescuing their father, he left, in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye to any of them.

.....

More than three years later, and Jay was back in town, doing everything in his power to avoid where his family might be. Unfortunately, life rarely works for him, and he ends up, somehow, dumped on the ground a few steps from the back entrance to his family's bar, quickly bleeding out.

Minutes later, someone comes out the door, pack of cigarettes in hand, and already digging their pockets for a lighter. They stop dead when they see him, curled on the ground, dark puddle growing around him, long hair in a mess covering his face. They curse, coming over to the somehow still conscious heap, to check his pulse. Brushing aside his hair for a better feel, they freeze, before pulling out their phone and calling someone.

"Backdoor. Now." They say as soon as the call goes through. "And have Sam ready the medical equipment."

Hands are on him then, trailing over his body to find the wounds, and then applying pressure. Jay hardly notices, mind a flurry of 'nononono' and 'shitshitshitshit'. The backdoor bangs open and the only one who flinches is the one beside him, his mind already too far gone to understand what's happening.

Strong hands lift him up and he gasps, unconsciousness sweeping him away from the burst of pain.

.....

He wakes up fuzzy and any movement feels like going through quicksand. Slowly, ever so slowly, he opens his eyes and sees, as the haze clears, an unfamiliar white ceiling. Turning his head takes hours, and zaps most of whatever energy he had, but it's worth it. He's greeted with the sight of Sam sleeping curled up on a chair near where he was, a snoring Alex next to her.

Before any thought can even register, something is grabbing his chin and forcing it the other way. An angry Wes fills his vision.

The first thought through his head is 'shit', followed by an 'ohno'. Which must have been on his face because Wes says, "oh shit is right. We don't see you for three years and then you suddenly appear out of nowhere bleeding out from stab wounds?"

Any exhaustion is gone from Jay, fear and adrenaline kicking in as his voice wakes the others, and draws attention from up stairs. Suddenly Sam and Alex are on one side of him, Wes on the other, and three pairs of feet coming down the stairs. Feeling like he's about to be caged, Jay sits up, scooting back against the bed as quick short breaths rush through him, doing no good to his bandaged abdomen. His vision goes dark and fuzzy around the edges, panic fully set in and taken over.

There are hands on him and loud sounds that could be voices, voices yelling at him. A whimper escapes him and he starts shaking in full now, trembling as the hands try to push him back down on the bed. The bed. Hands. Yelling. He's trembling and dry heaving, curled in on himself, he thinks he might have said something because the hands are gone, the voices dulled and far away. But the bed, the bed. He falls out of it, trying to get away, dragging the blanket tangled around his legs with him. He blindly backs himself into a corner, shaking and silently gagging the whole way.

As his adrenaline wears off, and the panicked fear is layered under a heavy quilt of exhaustion, he passes out, curled up in the corner.

....

When he came to, he was still lying in the corner, a couple of blankets wrapped around him that he didn't think was there when he fell asleep. The sleepiness was snapped out of him when he heard voices.

"-Been asleep for a few hours. I want to check his wounds, he was bleeding through the bandages last I saw. Probably tore the stitches."

"Don't touch him yet, we don't know what caused that reaction. We don't want him hurting himself again."

"I wish I could get an IV going for him, but with how much he moves, it could break the needle."

"We could restrain h-."

"No way in hell."

A few moments of silence, where he can only assume they were looking at him.

"He still looks so cute asleep."

He went still, the breath frozen in his lungs, nausea threatening to spill his guts. His brain a constant, 'nonononono' and 'stopstopstopstopstop' as memories of others saying the same come out of their locked boxes and chained doorways.

He drew the blankets closer to himself, giving off a low whimper, a begging whine. He withered and thrashed in his blankets, stomach rolling worse than the sea. Tears trailed, mingling with the sweat now covering his whole body, he gasped for breath.

Loud things were being said, turning to static before he can understand them, he groaned, covering his ears. Which probably brought attention to the fact that he was missing one, if they didn't already notice. His eyes were wide and sightless as memories played out in his head, things that had him thrashing to get out of whatever was holding him.

That continued, for a while, Jay stuck in his own mind while Sam and Alex watched fearfully, too afraid to touch, but too afraid to leave him alone.

By the time he came out of it, slow and heavy, he was too weak to move, either from exertion or the fact that he was bleeding through the blankets that still covered him. His eyes cleared to a painfilled haze as he rolled them around, wheezing from what might have been the exercise or the fact that his lung was still trying to heal from his knife wound. Eyes having landed on the two near him, he breathed a confused, 'Sammy?'

The girl broke into a soft cry, taking a step toward Jay that caused him to flinch back. Alex gripped her arm tight to keep her back, whispering low to her ear, "we can fix him back up when he falls asleep."

She frowned, but didn't argue, and they settled in to watch Jay drift off.

....

Waking again was slower, with far more confusion. He could feel a blanket or two covering him where he lay on his back. A sharp edged knife of panic slid into his head that was quickly put down by a fuzziness and heaviness that didn't seem like it came from himself. A tired painless cloud he laid on, a softness in his mind and a tingling in his body.

He frowned, not knowing if his body did the same, as he pointed out thickly, "drugs." Another edge of panic sliced through him and he managed to see what was around him in his second of clarity before the haze swept back in.

A lady was sitting near him, on the floor, her long ebony hair being brushed out by a man sitting next to her with tan skin and bleach blond hair, his brown eyes filled with worry. The lady seemed to be asleep, her sharp cheekbones and large forehead contrasted sharply with her thin nose and thin lips. She was extremely dark colored, blacker than night, and had a willowy frame, everything long and thin, with sharp edges everywhere that somehow made her look beautiful. She was the girl you'd see at the bar who all the guys were watching, but no one dared make a move because she seemed unreachable.

The man was shorter, and chubbier, his tan skin looked natural as did his blond hair, his brown eyes looked like the rings of a tree, each one a different thickness and shade. He had a gentleness to him that she didn't seem to have, he was a far more inviting person, his charisma and charm noticeable even latent and unused. He was all soft curves and short gracefulness, but he had a barely there undertone of strength, both physically and metaphorically, and an aruora of someone who's used to having their orders followed.

And as Jay faded in and out of the haze, he recognized them as Sam and Alex, two of his adopted siblings.

....

When he woke the next time there was no floating sensation, no slow and gradual awakening, no momentary confusion as he forgot where he was, he snapped his eyes open and everything came online as it should. First noticing he was alone, he slowly pushed himself into sitting position so he could check himself and his surroundings.

Glancing at where he was, he noted that he was laying on the floor, two blankets under him, two over him, and a pillow behind him. Sweeping the room, he noted medical beds across the room, tables and cabinets of medical equipment scattered around, two sofas and a tv in a corner along with a fridge and microwave, and stairs in the opposite corner. Moving his check to himself, he pulled off the blankets, glad to note that he wore scrub bottoms though no top, his midsection wrapped in bandages and upper chest and arm with large patches of gauze and medical tape. He also noted absently that the pain he had pushed to the back of his mind had spiked.

He pushed down on the bandages around his stomach and gasped when the pain was brought back front and center in his mind.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have done that."

The random voice has Jay up and against the wall before he can think on it, the sudden change in altitude making him woozy. And as he listed dangerously to the side, a hand kept him upright, gripping his elbow almost hard enough to bruise. He yanked his arm away, sliding down to the floor, nearly choking on his need to retch. Somehow, he managed a strained, "Don't touch me."

The person backed away enough for Jay to see him as he tried to pull himself back from the void in his mind. Wesley stood over him, looking down on him in disgust, his youngest sibling looked like a replica of their father, just 30 years younger. Broad shoulders, a 6 foot bulky, muscular build, short caramel hair, and golden skin. Icy blue eyes, an almost permanent scowl, a nose that looked like it'd been broken before, and a cleft chin. "Handsome in a rouge gangster sort of way," his mother had said of their father so many years ago. 

Wes huffed and walked back up the steps, a minute later, Dom came down instead.

Frowning at Jay, he asked, "what happened to you?"

He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, muttering, "got mugged."

Narrowed eyes and deepened scowl was all that were needed to tell Jay he didn't believe him one bit, not that he saw them, but the tense silence was enough for anybody to know.

"Why are you back in town?"

"Why do you care? Am I not allowed here? Did I get banned when I wasn't looking?" Jay threw back, before the sound of his stomach growling broke his anger.

"No, you aren't banned, I was just wondering. Let's get you food. Can you walk?" He asked with unusual kindness.

Holding his breath, he slowly got up, trying not to jostle his injuries. Dom held out a hand in case he needed help, but kept out of the way, Jay's first words to Wes tumbling around in his brain.

"How bad are they?" Jay asked, as he leaned against the wall to gather his thoughts and keep the pain level down.

"Sam and Clair said you had 4 stab wounds, 9 cuts, and 3 bruised or cracked ribs. And that one of the stabs nicked a rib and your lung." He answered, carefully watching in case he started to fall.

Nodding blankly, he moved from the wall, headed to the stairs, Dom to the side of him. "Left at the door," he said, allowing Jay to pause about 5 steps up and again at the door, halfway down the hallway, the next door, and by the bar.

Dominic was unusually patient, letting Jay catch his breath without a word, and following at a distance. Jay didn't make a sound, walking to the kitchen from memory, absorbing all the changes that were made since he was last there.

Noise reaches them as they round the empty bar, low murmurs and light whispers. They enter the kitchen just in time to hear Wes ask, "but why is he back he-"

They turn to him as he opens the door, and he doesn't even let the awkwardness bother him as he slips on a grin, "Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair soon enough."

They seem frozen in place, before Dom rolls his eyes and says, "that's not what he meant and you know it, Jason."

Jay snorts, "do I?" And moves past his frozen family to grab some food. Sam unfreezes then to help make him a sandwich, Alex herds him over to a chair with a mumbled, "Don't over do it. You're still healing."

Sam sets a plate and a water bottle in front of him and moves back to the rest of the family, watching him silently and tense. It's his turn to freeze as he stares at the sandwich, thinking of how this conversation will go over. Sighing, he looks away from their eyes as he mumbles quietly, "I can't eat that."

Confusion settles over them, but Dom is the first to understand, "soup then?" Jay's nod sends him through the kitchen to warm up left over stew. Gradually the rest of them seem to realize and their looks change to pity or anger.

Wes grabs the sandwich and splits it with Clair, and the awkward silence continues, Jay too stubborn to crack. He eats his stew under the heavy stares of his previous family before the silence is broken by Sam's soft, "what happened to you?"

When he didn't answer, Dominic told them, "he said he was mugged." Jay flinches a little at the words, glancing quickly under his lashes at Sam, still unable, after all these years, to lie to her.

He ran his hand along his other wrist as he stopped eating, pushing it away. "I uh, well, it's a long story." Sam and Alex grabbed the chairs across from Jay and sat, simultaneously saying, "we got time."

He frowned, "after I..left, I fell in with a few groups, and uh, well they don't take too kindly to spys apparently, ha, who knew. But they take even less kindly people who sell the stolen info. So here I am."

Wes was frowning harder, "that doesn't explain much?"

Dom rolled his eyes, "he's saying he was tortured because he was caught double dealing info." Jay flinches minutely, but Dom continued, "raped too, if his reactions are anything to go by." Jay's lungs froze, refusing to move as they all looked back at him in surprise or sorrow. But Dom pushed on, "what I don't get though is why you're here. Why'd they dump you here if you were way up in Chicago?"

Now they all stared at Dom, confused. "You knew he was in Chicago all this time and you didn't tell us?" Clair cried, as Quinton just asked how he knew.

Dom shrugged, "he's got a tattoo on his wrist that he's trying to cover up, it belongs to a gang up in Chicago. If I knew where he was before, Clair, I would have brought him back here a long time ago."

"Why'd you go to Chicago?" Quinton asked, curiously.

Jay looked at his father figure, "I didn't, I went to Minneapolis first, then a case led me to Detroit fell in with a gang there, and then I ran to Chicago and settled, it's just really pretty to take pictures of."

"I probably would have stayed there the rest of my life, but Detroit tracked me down and revealed what I'd done to the Chicago group. Then they uncovered this place, which is quite the feat, considering I erased and burried everything I could from the internet." He paused before glaring at Sam and Alex, "of course it doesn't help when you keep posting old pictures of me on social media."

They glance at each other, "is that why all those posts get taken down and we get banned from twitter?"

Jay nods, not even slightly guilty about it, "not like any of this matters, I'll be out of town as soon as I heal, if not sooner." Before any of them could protest, he added, "its safer for you that way. I'll go back and tear down those groups, and be on my way."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Wes asks, piping up from where he leaned against the door frame.

Jay just shoots him a evil grin, "Don't worry about it."

Dom rolls his eyes again, "he has evidence and info and their routines. It wouldn't be that hard to take down a gang with all that going for you." He pauses, "but you shouldn't go alone. Depending on the size and your plan, you'll need back up, at least two others, if not more. You're not indestructible, you know."

Jay looks at him in surprise before cracking a grin, "I knew I missed you for a reason."

Dom freezes, tense with discomfort and anger. "So you didn't miss us?" Sam questions hotly.

Jay frowns,"of course I did, Sammy, I missed everyone here."

"Then why didn't you come back?" Alex continues, sad.

"Why didn't you come find me?" No one answered, "How long did it take for you to even notice I was gone?" No answer, he lets out a humorless chuckle, "Why should I have come back if you never wanted me here? Why should I have come back if there was no need for me here? You all did something for the business when Quin went missing, but I was useless."

"You weren't useless," Clair interrupts softly, "You found Quin even when the rest of us had given up."

"And what did I get for that? You all thought I was obsessed, chasing my tail. You didn't want to help, you barely ever acknowledged my ideas. You think I didn't hear what you said about me? How you talked about me behind my back? You thought I was crazy, a loose end, right Wes? What was it you said? 'If I didn't get help, you'd escort me to an early grave.' Was that it?" He paused as the others turned to look at Wes. "And Dom, what did you tell me? To 'get the fuck out if I wasn't going to shut up about my nonsense'? To-" Dom's glare broke through Jay's rant in a heartbeat, blocking his next words.

"We were in mourning and you dragging him into every conversation we had with you was extremely raw on our nerves." Dom's said, the others staring at him wide-eyed. "Everyone said things they didn't mean. Things they never would have said in any other situation. Even you. So don't go digging up old wounds, it's not going to help you leave any faster."

There was silence for a second before Jay smirked, "saw through that, did you?" Dom snorted and Jay looked back at his family. "Sorry, I had to try. I don't blame any of you for what you said. I went about things wrong anyway back then." A seconds lull, then, "especially you Sammy. I forgave you first, I know how much it hurt you to say that. So stop worrying your ring, you'll burn your finger again."

Sam had her arms around Jay before he could blink, crying into his shoulder. He tensed up to keep from shaking as the crushing hug brought memories he would rather not remember, much less in front of an audience.

Dom carefully pulled her off as soon as he noticed Jay's shallow breathing, pushing her back to Alex. A startled, "Dude! Don't touch him!" rolling off his tongue before he could stop himself.

Jay sat shaking like a leaf as he mumbled apologies and slid to the floor to lean against the island table to curl up.

Dom sighed through his nose, "what part of 'rape' did you not get? You can't initiate contact, he has to." He glares at them, "God, it's not like this is your first rape victim."

"No," Alex said, voice hard, "its the first time we've seen our brother in three years."

Dom growls low in his throat, taking a step toward the man, but Quin stepped in with a simple shake of his head and silent order for them to leave. Reluctantly they did, Clair and Wes the first to go, Sam and Alex close behind, Quin bringing up the rear, leaving Dom to help Jay.

Dom looked down at his brother and suppressed a sigh, sliding down to sit next to him, close but not touching. He kept up a steady stream of gossip in a low voice, trying to draw his attention away without touching or talking directly to him.

Anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours passed before the tremors lessened and they sat trying to calm Jay's breathing. Blindly, he reached out to touch something that wasn't him, and gripped a handful of Dom's shirt, attempting to ground himself with the unfamiliar texture. By the time he was calm enough to actually hear what Dom was saying, he had moved on to talking about what happened while Jay was away.

Dom's calm voice lured Jay to sleep, slipping to the side to lean against him.

....

Jay shouldn't be surprised when he woke up where he fell asleep, but he was. His head was in Dom's lap, hand loosely tangled in his shirt, Dom's hand was carting fingers gently through his hair.

A few minutes passed, Jay too relaxed to move for once, and Dom asked quietly, "do you remember what happened when I was fourteen?"

Jay tensed, mumbling, "Cerberus took you."

He hummed in acknowledgment, "four months. I never told anyone what happened in those four months."

Jay didn't dare speak, Dom's face had taken on a far away look and his voice had gotten even softer.

"For the first few weeks he kept me locked up. The room was small, dark, and cold. It didn't have a bed, toilet or even a blanket. There were no cameras, they didn't talk to me, or let me see them. They put food through a slat in the door. I think by the second week I was talking to myself just to be able to hear something."

There was a pause, and Jay looked up at Dom to see something that really scared him; fear. Dom had never been the type to dwell on things, so the fact that these memories still haunt him gave Jay a glimpse at his own future.

"The first time the door opened, the light from outside blinded me. I didn't get to see who come in, and I was barely able to move at that point, the small amount of food and the cold got to me." Dom took a deep breath, calming his rolling mind. "When he grabed me, I screamed, his hands were like fire to my fridged skin. That combined with the fact that I hadn't been touched in a while, my nerves...." His hand was shaking where it was set on Jay's head, Jay stayed still and silent, too afraid of setting him off.

"They beat me, pulled me into the sunlight, and used bats and crowbars and feet and hands. Every time I blacked out, they sprayed steaming hot water at me." A larger tremble ran through him before he continued to run his fingers through Jay's hair. "By the time Killian got there, I felt like I had died ten times over. My eyes were still unfocused, either from the concusions or the light, my body refused to move for me, refused to even curl up anymore. His voice still chills me, the way he said my name, the...things that came after."

"I was thrown back into that room when he was done, soaking wet, too weak to move, and bleeding out slowly. When the food tray came the next time, it had a syringe and bottle. I still don't know what it was, but I used it, the whole thing, I had hoped it would kill me. When I came back down, I could feel everything each broken bone, dislocated joint, and every single bruise, but the part of my mind that dealt with the pain was just offline. What little rationale I had left knew I was in serious pain, but it just didn't register like it used to. So every time that bottle came with my food, I took it."

"It felt like years later, but also just a few seconds, my time was warped, my brain numb, they dragged me out into the sun again. When they beat the shit out of me that time, I watched from beside Killian, devoid of feelings as they broke and broke and broke my body. They were talking, but I couldn't hear it, and it seemed like forever before Killian waved them off, and they scattered like birds. A girl who was probably younger than me came to check if I was still alive, her soft touch was what pulled me back, and I blacked out."

"When I came to, I was tied to a chair, bright lights on every wall, all pointed at me, a table by the door, metal tools glinting on it, blood on the floors. Killian standing in front of me, a bloody knife in his hand, and that sadistic smile. He talked as he cut into me, that smile never once faltering, told me about his plans for me, what the family was doing, that you all had given up looking for me." His breath hitched, the monotone breaking a little, "after the first week, I started to believe him."

"Withdraw hit, broke me faster than his damn knives, than his beatings, than his-" he swallowed thickly, "I begged for the drug, pleaded, and eventually, bargained for it. He wanted me to work for him, to do what he said no matter what. I agreed, I would probably have agreed to death as long as it came with that fucking shot."

"He gave me a condition, I had to pass a test. He gave me a gun, told me there was only one bullet in it, and brought out someone with a bag over their head. Said shooting the man would get me the drug. I didn't even hesitate, the reaction was instant, Killian smiled and laughed, called me his greatest project yet, and stepped around the body on the floor to undo all the ropes binding me."

"A month later, Alex, Sam, and Quin found me. They crashed through the front gates and put everyone down, non lethal, of course, Alex doesn't kill. By the time they got to the control room, Killian had given me a gun and we waited for them to make their way to us. They slammed through the door, and before they could even make it five steps, I had a bullet through everyone's thighs. Killian whined, saying I only had two left, how was I supposed to kill all three with just two bullets. I remember smiling his smile and saying with a knife. His laughter followed me as I walked over to where they were lying on the ground. They looked so shocked and betrayed and even scared. I remember talking out loud, wondering who I would kill and how, drawing it out till Killian seemed to get impatient. Got as far as pointing the gun at Sam before something came back to me, a piece I thought I'd lost. Suddenly I could actually see her, I knew she was real, they all were. I ran my hand over her face and turned to shoot Killian. He died with that smile on his face and I hit the ground as he did, crying and gripping Sam like a lifeline. I kept mumbling you're real. Please be real, over and over again and I barely felt it when they pushed the syringe into my arm and waited for the medicine to work, and when it didn't, they knocked me over the head, and took me home."

"I know the others never bring it up, and in a way I'm thankful, but you can't heal and move on if you ignore it, if you push it to the back of your mind and keep going. Trust me, the weight gets to you, the thoughts and memories, and what ifs - even if there was nothing you could have done to change it. You start asking yourself if there was something, anything that would have lessened the pain, that would have altered the result. And in the end, you start to wonder if you even made it out, if this whole thing isn't some insane mind fuck, some pain fueled dream, some drug enduced hallucination. You start to wonder if dying will make it stop, will make everything better, manageable, or if it will send you right back to the place you thought you escaped." His other hand moves to his neck, where a slim, faded scar ran across the entirety of it. "At least, that's what I did. And I didn't seek help until way too late, until I had almost died to keep my thoughts at bay. I tried to do it on my own, thinking that there was no one that could help me, that could understand me."

He finally tears his gaze from the wall and pulls out a card from his shirt, "this is the lady that helped me. If you ever feel like your drowning in your thoughts, or you can't sleep for fear of nightmares, or the thought of death seems so enticing, I want you to call her. Please call her."

Jay took the card, memorizing it before tucking it into his pants.

"You probably don't want to talk to me, but if you need to, if you're in a pinch, or if you just want to know somebody understands, I'm always here." Dom said, eyes soft but unyielding, and Jay finally understood the strength Dom had.

Before Jay could say anything, Wes walked in with a skinny dude Jay had never seen before. "Yo, we open in thirty minutes, get out so Zeke can prep."

Jay got up slowly, Dom waiting to help, and turned to the new guy as Dom got up himself. "So you're the cook, I'm Jay."

Zeke smiled at him, "Zeke, I'm the main cook, but sometimes Dom helps if he's not too busy elsewhere."

Jay turns to Dom with a horror filled expression, "please tell me that wasn't your stew I ate last night."

Dom laughs, "just because you're jealous im a better cook than you doesn't mean you can go sprouting shit like that."

Wes snorts as Jay counters, "come now Big D, we all know who taught you to cook."

Wes looks at him wide eyed, before he bursts out laughing. Zeke stands confused on the side as Dom gives a little smile, "you're just mad because they didn't teach you to make it."

Jay snorts this time, "right, because meth making would look so good on my resume."

"Ooh, lil bro's got sass. Keep it up and I'll give you a fucking nuggie from hell." Dom warns teasingly.

Jay breaks into a full on grin, "only of you can catch me!"

Wes groans, "So childish, how old are you two again? Five?"

Dom coos "twenty-seven" as Jay sing songs "twenty-five!"

Then they turn to him, "How old are you again lil Wes?" Dom asks, Jay finishing, "not even drinking age I'm afraid, the poor dear."

They grin at each other, pulling out a handshake they hadn't done in well over ten years. They freeze at the end, caught by surprise at how easy it was to interact again.

"Well shit." Jay says, staring at Dom.

"Yeah," Dom replys, a far off look in his eyes.

Wes's face softened before Zeke said, "Annnnd I'm lost."

His voice broke them out of their trance as Wes said, "Don't worry about it. My brothers are idiots." The three of them walk out of the kitchen without goodbyes, leaving Zeke utterly confused and questioning so many things.

Dom lead Jay to a spare bedroom so he could change into more comfortable clothes, the selection of which, were mostly Sam's and Clair's. Finding the least girly, yet softest ones, he pulled them on and opened the door for Dom to come in.

Dom just stared, making Jay fiddle with the long sleeve cashmere sweater and clear his throat. Dom snapped out of it, and pulled a strained smile, as Jay asked, "So what happened while I was gone?"

They spend a few hours talking about things that had happened in both of their lives, the big shocker coming when Dom announced, "and Wes proposed to Clair, finally. The wedding's set for this coming spring."

....

Two days later and Jay was finally able to eat solid food and keep it down. Three more days and most of his stitches come out. And after two weeks, Jay can do almost everything he could before, save certain stretches and breathing too deeply. He found his spot with his family again, Dom, Sam, and Alex being his closest relationships, Wes and Clair were more reserved, Quin was the same as always - the man never seemed to change - and Zeke turned out to be surprisingly easy to get along with.

By the third week, Jay was getting antsy, not that anyone could see - or blame him. His last stiches came out and he wanted to move, to leave. So he decided sneak out in the middle of the night again because it was obvious he would not be leaving any other way.

While the bar downstairs got into full swing, Jay allowed himself one more look before slithering out the window and jumping to the rooftop of the restaurant next door. Before he could even step from where he landed, Dom said, "I thought you were supposed to get wiser with age? You know, learn from past experiences?"

"And it seems you have," Jay answered smoothly.

"Yes, but you haven't. And it appears to me that you are the one who needs to wise up, not me."

They glare at each other in silence until Jay heaves a sigh. "Look, I don't want to mess up what you guys have been doing. So let me leave and you'll never have to see me again."

"No. You're gonna get your ass kicked if you go alone. And besides, who says I never want to see you again?"

"Uhh, you did, dumbass."

Dom rolls his eyes, "that was three years ago, and I already told you; I didn't mean it."

"In every lie, there's a little bit of truth," Jay mumbles, recalling Dom's favorite quote once upon a time.

He frowned and opened his mouth, but Jay cut him off with another of his old favorite quotes, "a single lie discovered, is enough to create doubt in every truth exposed."

Dom stopped, staring at him in a new light, "you don't trust me?"

Jay give him a small smile and a shrug, "would you?"

Dom stared at him for a long time, long enough that Jay began fidgeting under his inquiring gaze. They were quite long enough to grate on Jay's patience and with an irritated sigh, he asked, "are you gonna let me go? Because I'm really not in the mood to fight."

"I can't let you leave after we finally got you back." He looked rather sad. "What about Sam and Alex? You'll make them extremely depressed again."

Jay shrugs, "they handled it before. At least this time they'll know I'm alive."

"I'm sure they'd rather know that by seeing you." Dom stops to look at him, "You should at least say goodbye to them."


End file.
